Facility devoted to disabled children

Caroline School picks Welch Beaty as its new director

TOM MANNING, Chronicle Correspondent

Published 6:30 am, Thursday, November 25, 2004

In early 2002, Elizabeth DeLuca was faced with a decision. Her 4 1/2 -year-old daughter, Caroline, was ready to enter school. But the anticipation that most families feel with the first day of school was a lot different for the DeLucas.

"My daughter had a neuro-degenerative disorder and was in fairly bad shape," DeLuca said. "My only option was the Houston Independent School District, and I didn't feel that was going to work. So I could either keep her at home, or start my own school. I decided to start my own school."

Two years later, The Caroline School, 3550 W. Dallas, serves 15 students with varying disabilities whose parents don't feel comfortable sending them into a traditional school environment.

Most Popular

In June, DeLuca turned over director duties to April Welch Beaty, former inclusion specialist at Spring Branch ISD.

Welch Beaty has also taught in Plano and holds certificates in early childhood education, special education, elementary education and English as a second language.

For Welch Beaty, the draw of The Caroline School was the nurturing learning environment in which children are placed, allowing them to get used to what school has to offer while at the same time giving them the one-on-one care that they need.

"I knew about The Caroline School through a friend who was doing speech therapy here," Welch Beaty said. "When I started asking around, what I heard was that it was a small environment and a warm, loving, safe environment for kids. That was the main appeal. It had a much different feel from a large, public school."

When DeLuca first began exploring the possibility of The Caroline School, she had to do the dirty work, namely, finding classroom space.

She turned to The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation, 3550 W. Dallas, which for more than 50 years has served adults with varying degrees of mental retardation and provided them with homes and job skills. DeLuca, who was on the foundation board of The Center, asked executive director Alan Garms for classroom space at The Center's complex on West Dallas, and the match was made.

"I asked them for a classroom and they gave us two," DeLuca said. "We did a 'test model' for a year, with two teachers and four students, to see what the response would be from the community, and since then we've kept expanding."

The Caroline School now takes up four classrooms at The Center, and will likely expand further in the near future. The school serves pupils ages 1-9 who suffer from disabilities such as cerebral palsy, seizures or heart ailments. Almost all of them are confined to wheelchairs.

"We serve children who are medically fragile, who have temperamental delays and who have multiple impairments," Welch Beaty said. "We're the only private entity in Houston that serves kids with moderate to severe disabilities.

"We have several children with normal to high IQs," she added. "A lot of kids with cerebral palsy have significantly higher IQs, but the fact that they're non-ambulatory makes traditional school a real challenge."

Said DeLuca, "Cognitively, these kids are extremely bright. The most severe-looking child may have the highest cognition. You don't judge a book by its cover."

Along with traditional learning, pupils at The Caroline School receive occupational, speech and physical therapy.

"We allow outside therapists that a family may be working with to come in to the school," Welch Beaty said. "Most public schools don't allow that."

A day at Caroline School

A typical school day at The Caroline School involves parents dropping their kids off and speaking with teachers at the beginning of the day.

Pupils then have breakfast time; circle time, which is devoted to teaching language through books and music; outside time where pupils use swings, slides and other playground equipment; and then center time, where pupils can choose between a book center, a cooking center or a music center.

After lunch and a nap, pupils have individual work time, and music and story time. A music therapist was recently added.

"Students are here from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., which is longer than the typical HISD school day," Welch Beaty said. "Our ratios are low. We hold enrollment at five per class. It's not unusual for us to have 1-to-1 or 2-to-1 ratios. That allows for good opportunities for individual work time and attention.

"Our teachers' attention is not divided. They focus on every student."

The majority of The Caroline School pupils will go on to more traditional schools. Preparing them to do that is one of the main focuses for Welch Beaty and her four teachers and five teaching aides. While the upper age limit is now 9, that will change if parents want to keep their children at The Caroline School longer.

"Since we're a new program, we're changing as the need changes," Garms said. "Our upper age limit is going to stretch out as the need becomes greater. But we don't ever anticipate being as large as a public school. The idea of a small, nurturing environment is very appealing to our parents, and to us.

"We want to be able to adapt to the needs of each student and each parent a lot more than a typical school can."

As The Caroline School continues to grow, both DeLuca and Welch Beaty say they want to be able to retain the small-school environment that the children who attend need to thrive.

"I'd like to expand beyond the four classrooms," Welch Beaty said.

Now Playing:

"I'd also like to see a high-functioning Down's syndrome classroom. But, mostly, I'd like to see us become a larger entity in the community.

"We want to be able to have kids come here, feel comfortable in a school environment, and then go into public school and thrive."